Stefan couldn't believe his eyes. "No it can't be." he thought. "They look so young." A lump forms in his throat as he looks between Elena and Damon. He reaches out and touches Damon's shoulders. "Why can I feel him?" His vision blurs as tears form and he starts shaking his head in disbelief. And when he finishes processing a bit, he asks, "Are you dead?"

"What?" Caroline exclaims. "No, you drama queen. We spelled ourselves here with Freya and Bonnie's help. God, what has your time here done to you?" There is an awkward pause.

Stefan breaks into laughter and rubs his eyes. And for some reason, that made everyone else start crying. They hadn't seen Stefan in what felt like an eternity and seeing him laugh triggers something in them.

"We missed you." Damon says, meaningfully. He grabs his face and gazes at his brother. "I missed you, brother."

"I think about you everyday. I think about your sacrifice and how our home is safe, now, because of it. We built a school for gifted children at the boarding house, in your honor." Caroline adds, putting her arm around his waist.

"Thank you for everything you've done for us." Elena finishes. She seems the most emotional over seeing Stefan. "He looks older than I remember." she thought. As she moves forward to hug him, Damon and Caroline do too. They all stand there in that embrace, all too miraculous to believe, for some time. And when they finally break that embrace, Stefan understands what is happening.

"You all came here to help with Katherine?" he asks, confused.

"None of us got a proper goodbye. You died before we got the chance." Caroline says in a serious tone. "We wanted to help, and we all wanted to see you."

"So what can we do?" Stefan asks.

"That's where it gets a little complicated." Damon says. "We need to get Katherine's bone dagger."

"What? Does that thing still exist?" Stefan remarks.

"Well according to Freya and Bonnie, the witchy-woo that Kai may have brought into whatever-this-place-is-called is probably bound to that dagger. It's the only thing that connects Katherine to Hell." Damon says.

"So if we get it out of here—" Stefan starts.

"We don't know if it prevents her from reopening Hell, but it gets us one step closer to making sure she doesn't." Caroline answers.

"We need to take it back with us to check it." Elena adds. "And we need to do it fast. We don't have much time left."